


instagram antics

by cngkyns



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Self-Indulgent, Slice of Life, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 23:47:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19050961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cngkyns/pseuds/cngkyns
Summary: Most people's idea of#datestagramincludes cute pictures and cheesy captions, but Hyungwon and Kihyun's couple posts suggest a different idea entirely.Alternatively, the four times where the two of them celebrate being in love by pretending they're not.





	instagram antics

**Author's Note:**

> **a/n** : aka 4 scenes, stretched out to 11k, worth of hyungki being dumb boyfriends. this plotless fluff took p much months to come out smh!!! mainly bc i didn’t know how i wanted to go abt it!!! but i like the final product lol   
>  also i decided to post it on my bday bc it neatly aligned w my final steps to finishing up this fic. happy bday to me

 

 

 

 

 _[ Picture of Kihyun holding up a cake in a dark room, one-eighth of the cake open to show its rainbow layers, his face highlighted by the candles on top of it and an excited smile dancing from ear to ear. A dollop of white buttercream dots the tip of his sharp nose. He wears a vibrant, dollar-store_ Birthday King! _paper crown on top of his head. ]_

 

 **chaebuking:** _hah. twenty-six. it's time to get your dentures, old man_ _._

  
  
  


"Oh my god." 

Staring at the extra salt and _not_ sugar _,_ as he'd intended, now lying on top of his fourth attempt at a batter, Hyungwon throws his hands up in the air and emits a loud, frustrated groan. There are only so many mistakes he can make before he officially runs out of ingredients and has to restock his supplies, despite having zero succession to baking a cake. With every tick of the clock that hangs on the wall, Kihyun's birthday comes one second closer than before— it'll be midnight in three hours, he's too tired to continue any of this, and is the local grocery store open past midnight? probably not— and the mess on his kitchen counter does _not_ resemble a cake in any way. How are his hands perpetually useless at everything? 

(Save for dancing, but dancing won't help him bake.) 

He glances at his phone lying a handspan away from him on the counter. Whenever he runs into kitchen-related troubles, his first help has always been Kihyun: reliable, housewife-material Kihyun whose hands worked magic within any household, possessing the ability to turn failures into success, pushing everything forward into completion. Four times is enough to wear him down, and he's not sure how much he wants to continue this little project tonight. Hyungwon sighs, fingers flexing and creeping through the air to pick his phone up, but he stops himself. This was meant to be a surprise and surprises shouldn't be hinted at, no matter how offhand the hints were. 

Besides, Hyungwon almost never bakes and it just so happens that Kihyun's birthday was tomorrow; what's there to miss out on? 

Murmuring curses and displeased mantras beneath his breath, he bustles around the kitchen counter, grabs the failed batter, and dumps it all into the sink. The mess washes away in a spiral courtesy of Coriolis' effect down the sink, along with Hyungwon's final drops of motivation. He can't do it. Can he? Three hours is plenty enough time to finish a cake, plus he isn't meeting Kihyun until ten tomorrow morning, so he should be able to succeed, or rather, _needs_ to before then. This year will be the third time they've spent their birthdays together and they say that _third time's the charm_ , whatever that means, so Hyungwon wants to make this special and go an extra mile for his boyfriend. 

Right. Okay. He takes a deep breath, wipes his flour-dusted hands against his mother's old, stained apron, then picks up the recipe he'd printed off a website. He can do this. He just needs to mix the ingredients together, put them in the oven, and _voilà,_  a cake is made! As long as Kihyun doesn't appear and discover the mess that is his kitchen—

Right then, the doorbell rings and interrupts his internal monologue, its echoes louder and longer than usual thanks to the hollow silence that occupies his floor. Hyungwon frowns. A guest? At this hour? He hadn't been expecting anyone tonight, so...

From outside, a key is inserted into the hole, the doorknob clacks and twists, and lo and behold, Kihyun bustles inside with a plastic bag hanging from one arm. He doesn't look at his boyfriend when he says, "Hey Won. Not sure why you didn't read any of my texts, but this afternoon’s meeting was cancelled so I decided to come over anyway. I brought some sushi for tonight— what are you doing?" 

For the second time that night, Hyungwon throws his hands up in the air. "Speak of the devil! You're not welcome in the confines of my house. Go home."

As if he hadn't heard a word the younger said, Kihyun stops at the entrance of the kitchen and gapes. "You. You need some help."   
  
  


 

Hyungwon watches from behind, half-bored and half-embarrassed, as his boyfriend clears up the packets of flour and sugar and baking soda away, ties them neatly with rubber bands or clip them together, stores them back to vacant spots in the cupboards and drawers. All the while, Kihyun murmurs phrases of disbelief and exasperation to himself, as if neither of them have run into stupid antics throughout their three years of dating, not forgetting to send accusatory glances at his boyfriend from time to time.

"What?" Hyungwon asks defensively.

"You could've called me over to help you," the elder says, stacking the used bowl, spatula and mixer into the sink. They clank against each other as they're set, metal against metal, and a deep thrum reverberates around the kitchen when Kihyun turns the tap on. "This is a total mess, Hyungwon, and a disaster could've happened if I didn't come in the nick of time." 

"Don't be dramatic," his boyfriend replies. "I'm not _that_ bad in cooking. Besides, the only thing I did wrong was being careless with adding ingredients; what's the worst that could happen here?" 

"Oh, I don't know, a fire could've blown up the second you look away from it." 

Hyungwon tries not to sputter. "Hey! Stop bringing that up every time I walk into a kitchen. It happened _one_ time two years ago—"

"—and could've taken our lives had we not put it out. We can never be too careful with you." Deeming the utensils clean enough for soap, Kihyun circles a hand around Hyungwon's wrist and pulls him towards the sink, gestures to the dish soap and the sponge sitting on one side of the counter. "There. Now go wash your stuff." 

"Alright, mom." The argument leaving his body, Hyungwon heaves a tired, disappointed sigh and begins scrubbing the used bowl. Wasting his week's lunch money to buy ingredients, failing to bake a cake despite his perseverance, then being chewed out by his boyfriend for lacking culinary skills had turned his Friday alone-time upside down. The one instance where he thought he could have some peace and quiet for himself without his boyfriend intruding, Hyungwon muses in silence, had been ruined by his incompetence and Kihyun's unannounced presence.

Out of the blue and very much on cue with his thoughts, the elder remarks, "No wonder you didn't answer any of my texts. I thought you turned your phone off or fell asleep or something."

Oh, right. His presence _had_ been announced. Hyungwon was just too focused on baking to notice the stream of texts his boyfriend had sent. 

"But turns out you were too busy trying to impress me," Kihyun adds with a quirk of his eyebrow, sprinkling a playful tone to his words. "Baking a cake for me right before my birthday, huh?" 

Hyungwon's eyebrow twitched. "Shut up. Everything would've been perfect if you didn't come over," mutters the younger, stacking the washed bowl and spatula on the counter. "The surprise would've stayed a secret, the cake could've been made without your nagging, and my night wouldn't have been ruined by it all. Besides, I thought I told you not to come tonight, which is why we're spending the entire day together tomorrow."

"And I told you my meeting had been cancelled, which means I can come over _and_ see you tomorrow with no problem." 

"Why would you want to see me tonight if we're spending tomorrow together?" 

"What, are you telling me I can't see my own boyfriend two times in a row?" A hint of a challenge in the name of lighthearted banter tinges Kihyun's words now, amplified by the upward tilt of his chin. "You telling me I can't see my boyfriend when I'm actually free?"

"No, but you could at least give me one week where I didn't have to see you on a Friday night. It gets boring sometimes."

"And now you're telling me I bore you right before my birthday. How cruel." He raises a hand to his chest and twists his face in mock agony, enjoying the situation a little too much. "I thought you love me."

" _Love-d._ Keyword _loved_ _._ Past tense, as in _I loved you before you barged in and ruined my night._ " 

At this dramatic reply, Kihynu throws his head back to guffaw. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry about it, okay? You didn't even answer to my texts in the first place, so I assumed it was alright to come over unannounced like we usually do." 

"It's just. Ugh." Deft fingers untying the knot of his mother's apron on his waist, Hyungwon slides his arms out of the holes and folds it into two, draping it over his forearm. "I know I've never baked a cake before, least of all by myself, but I wanted it to be as perfect as can be. It's gonna be our third year spending your birthday together and I wanted it to be, I don't know, special?" 

"You celebrating my birthday with me is special enough."

"Cut the cheese, old man. That's not the point." Even though Hyungwon's words are sharp, the flattered tug of his lips say otherwise— and of course his boyfriend notices it. "People say that third time's the charm, so I wanted to keep whatever charm there is and, you know, be nice to you for once." 

"There there, you can always be nice to me for the rest of the year." Reaching out to pat him on the head, Kihyun breaks into a genuine smile. "Don't be upset now. We all fail at things sometimes. The fact that you worked so hard on it means much more than you think to me." 

"Really?" 

"Mhm. That's sweet of you as it is." He tucks a tuft of overgrown hair behind Hyungwon's ear in reassurance. "And besides, I've already ordered a cake for tomorrow." 

The light in Hyungwon's eyes disappear as fast as it had come. "Oh. You did?" A blink. He processes the statement. "So I just wasted four hours of my life."  

"What? Of course not! That's not what I'm saying, dummy." The elder shakes his head. "Even if you successfully baked me a cake, there's nothing wrong with having two cakes for a birthday— in fact, I think that's even better, you know? I'm just saying that we'll still have a cake for tomorrow, so you have nothing to worry about."

"Oh." The younger nods. "Alright." 

"Great. Now that that's settled." Fishing his phone out of his pocket and opening a list of movie titles he'd prepared beforehand, Kihyun looks up at his boyfriend with a hopeful glint in his eyes. "Don’t forget this week’s movie night." 

  
  
  


Twenty-two hours later, as the dim living room lights up with the help of birthday candles and a scattering of balloons were hoisted up on the ceilings around them, Hyungwon enters from the kitchen in slow, steady steps, making sure the large, heavy cake in his hands wouldn't fall. Upbeat, muted music tinkling from their phone's speakers fill up the room. Kihyun, sitting straight in the center of the couch amidst mismatched cushions, watches his boyfriend cross the distance at a painful, turtle's pace, unable to wait for the rather expensive rainbow cake they picked up earlier that day, thoughts of its sweet-but-not-too-sweet taste and its smooth buttercream crowding his head. 

"You sure are taking your sweet time there," he remarks. 

Hyungwon grins. "Sorry birthday boy. Can't afford to ruin another cake for you." 

After a slow two minutes of walking, he reaches the coffee table at last, placing the cake down in a gentle, graceful movement. Kihyun claps his hand in anticipation. 

"Mandatory close-your-eyes-and-make-a-wish," announces Hyungwon, taking a seat on the couch beside his boyfriend, shifting the cushions around so they're not separated by any barrier. 

"I already thought of one while you were walking since you took so long," Kihyun tells him, but he closes his eyes anyway and invests his utmost sincerity in his wish. When he does, Hyungwon seizes the chance to take out a paper hat from his back pocket, reaching over the elder's head and strapping it on his crown. 

When Kihyun opens his eyes, he sends a curious glance at his boyfriend. "A hat?" 

"Yup." 

And then the candles are blown. 

"Happy birthday, Kihyun!" Wrapping both arms around Kihyun's shoulders, Hyungwon presses an innocent, chaste kiss on his cheek that entices a laugh from him. "Congratulations for living for twenty-six years." 

"Thanks. I'm not sure if I want to be alive anymore, but having you in it makes it all better." 

"Can't say the same for you, but let's save that for later." Reaching over the coffee table to grab at a plastic knife, he hands it to Kihyun in a majestic manner. "Your honour." 

"Thank you, kind sir." Accepting it with the same grace, Kihyun beams in excitement and stares at the sweet creation beneath him, taking in its perfect completion one last time before he cuts it. 

He raises the knife. Ever so slightly touches the cake by its tip, piercing the thick, buttercream icing on its surface and pressing it all the way through. He repeats the same steps at a different angle until it forms a slice, this time removing it from the rest of the cake and transferring it to a plate on the coffee table. Then stops. Admires the rainbow layers glued together with even more buttercream. Really, it had been too long since he enjoyed the simple pleasure of eating a cake and waiting ten months for his birthday to come might have been a little unnecessary. Not when there was a great bakery nearby where he could always indulge in soft, sweet baked goods and always a little money left over to spend on them—

A finger swipes cream on the tip of his nose in a quick, fluid motion, leaving a deep indent on the surface of his once perfectly-smooth cake and cutting his thoughts short. Hyungwon laughs at his agile handiwork, the apples of his cheeks bunching together and eyes twinkling in mirth. Kihyun frowns, though it carries no threat at all, and exclaims,

"Hey!"

  
  
  


_ [ First slide: picture of two hands holding ice cream cones against a dim, crowded theme park during sunset. One is vanilla topped with coloured sprinkles and the other is plain chocolate. Second slide: shaky video of a range of characters dancing against a background of brilliant fireworks lighting up the night sky, its explosions thunderous to the ear, mixed with Hyungwon and Kihyun's loud laughter in the foreground. ] _

 

 **yykh_93:** _tell me why i waste my time with you_

  
  
  


By the time they step off Hyungwon's car into the parking lot, the theme park ahead of them had begun to shine in the faint orange-yellow glow of the setting sun, its artificial lights replacing daylight and adding a variety of vivid hues to the area. Music blares from speakers all over the park, its volume a little too loud for the current hour, and a relatively large crowd moves through the free spaces, flitting from ride to booth to stall. Delicious smells tempt them to approach the food stalls first, despite their promise of holding dinner out until they've exhausted all the fun in the park, and the excited rush of people moving from one place to another filters into their footsteps. 

Swayed by the upbeat atmosphere, Hyungwon turns to his boyfriend to ask— or rather, yell, "So what do you wanna do first?"

"What?"

"What do you wanna do first?" 

Kihyun observes the stalls around them for half a minute. A roller coaster carriage rushes above them on its track, carrying the terrified screeches of its passengers into the sky, while a distant merry-go-round announces the end of its ride with a melody of tinkling bells. Some meters away from them were a group of the park's animal mascots: a gray mouse wearing a top hat, a jolly brown bear in a monocle, and a fox in a bow tie, all hugging visitors and posing for pictures and making cutesy gestures towards younger kids. It being his first visit in a long time to such a park, he finds himself overwhelmed by the possibilities of what to do, filled with desire to try out everything and anything to make up for lost time.

"Gosh, I don't know," he mutters. "What's the best thing to start off with?"

His boyfriend answers his own question first. "Oh." An excited gasp leaving his lips, Hyungwon tugs on their intertwined hands and stares at a lady beneath a stall that bore a large _ICE CREAM_ sign on its front. "Do you wanna get some ice cream?" 

Once they've bought themselves a cone each, Kihyun fishes for his phone and snaps a picture of their ice creams, angling them so that the background catches the vivid lights of the park against setting sun. Albeit he isn't in the frame, Hyungwon smiles for the picture, complete with chocolate ice cream smearing the corners of his mouth. 

"Eating ice cream outdoors sure hits different than indoors."

"Yeah." Kihyun licks up a line of vanilla ice cream dripping from the top of his cone before it can reach his hands. "It tastes better somehow."

"Probably because the environment is nicer here than at home." 

"Mhm. Tastes better when you're surrounded by happy people all around, doesn't it?" Licking a large strip of his ice cream where all the sprinkles were, he glances up at his boyfriend, notices the chocolate marks on the corners of his mouth, and says, "Won, you've got chocolate over there." Standing on his toes, Kihyun uses the end of his sleeves to wipe the younger's mouth clean. 

"Oh. Thanks." Hands searching each other again and holding on tight, they continue their stroll around the park, muse over which attraction to approach, which to avoid, which ride is exciting enough for them to scream and release their stress but not enough for them to puke, if that food stall would have any churros because Hyungwon's been craving them for two weeks but was too lazy to buy some for himself. 

The elder giggles at that. As expected of his boyfriend, Kihyun thinks. "Jeez Won. How lazy can you get? There’s a churros stand in the park of your neighborhood, you know.."

"I know." They end up sharing a plate of churros, anyway, fingers dusted by cinnamon powder and smeared by chocolate stains as they continue to explore the attractions. 

It isn't until they enter another section of the park when Kihyun lights up in sudden excitement, eyes caught on an intimidating, dilapidated wooden structure on the opposite side, hidden from view by a group of dark, hollow trees and a rusted metal gate. Low, ominous music blasts from the speakers around it, occasionally interrupted by fake lightning and thunder, surrounded by a handful of disgruntled zombies and moaning ghosts roaming by its front yard. Pointing to the haunted house with his free hand, he says, "Won, do you wanna go there?" 

"No." Hyungwon doesn't even spare a glance to its direction. He doesn't need to when its aura is powerful enough for him to detect. "No can do." 

"Are you sure? It looks fun." 

"And scary." 

"Which makes it fun." 

He pulls a face. "Don't act high and mighty and pretend that being scared is fun. Who was the one who left me behind in the last haunted house after that chainsaw guy started running after us? You still haven't owned up to it until now." 

Kihyun barks out a laugh, cheeks filling in by a pretty shade of light rose. "Did that happen? I didn't even realise. Sorry about that; it was a spur of the moment decision and I completely forgot we went in together." Tugging their intertwined hands lightly, he urges, "But it'll be different this time. I promise I won't forget you, okay? So let's go." 

"No. I don't want to." 

"Let's go! It looks like it has some good thrills." 

"You're going to scream your head off before we even get to a roller coaster. Let's _not_ go." 

"Babe." The upturned curve of Kihyun's lips flip downwards when he faces the younger. "Please? We went all the way here to destress after not going on dates for so long. Didn't you say you wanted to see the fireworks show here as well? It'll still be two hours before it starts, so let's make the most out of our time before then and do everything fun.  _ That— _ " he points to the haunted house, "looks fun." 

Though Hyungwon tries to hide it, seeing the disappointed curve of his boyfriend's eyebrows stabs a small knife of guilt into his heart. He can’t even point out that Kihyun was the one looking forward to the fireworks show. "Well, fun to you but not to me," he counters, but the argument falters in his words. 

"It'll be fun for the both of us, trust me," Kihyun tells him over his shoulder as he strides off to the house, Hyungwon trailing after him.   
  
  
  


 

When Hyungwon finally breaks out into the safety of the theme park grounds once more, safe from the one-eyed lady yelling inhumane screams in the final corridor, he releases a strained yelp and doubles over right by the exit, chest heaving as he tries to catch his breath. He didn't need a pathetic reminder of his cowardice, his second most outstanding trait (besides his looks, as he likes to claim), nor did he want to run away from men and women dressed in bloody rags, hobbling on questionable crutches or dangling sharp objects in their hands, a red-stained bandage covering one eye, in a place as happy as this park is deemed to be. 

Though his heartbeats were returning to its normal pace and his adrenaline was slowly cooling down, a hand jolts and grabs his arm out of nowhere. 

He screams. 

"Wait! It's me!" Kihyun stumbles back in surprise at the reaction, equally worn out from the haunted house. Some distance away from them and standing by the entrance of the attraction was another lady clad in bloodied rags, stifling a giggle as she watches the two. 

"Kihyun!" Grabbing his boyfriend's hands for security, Hyungwon pulls himself to the elder. "You're alive!"

"I am! I...oh gosh, I need some water." His face scrunches up in pain when Kihyun clears his throat, having yelled too much in terror in the house, before he continues once more. "Gosh. It hurts. But we did it. See? We made it." 

"Barely! I even left you behind to get away from that monster." Hyungwon inhales. "I yelled so much back there and now my throat hurts a lot. I think I sprained my ankle running, too. I don't wanna go to a haunted house ever again." 

Kihyun grins, knowing that his boyfriend's words carries no promise and he'd still follow him to the next haunted house they come across. "I think that means you need to exercise more, Won." 

"And it also means that I'm never going to a haunted house ever again. That's my last one—" 

"For the year?"

"No. Forever." Releasing his death grip on the elder's hands, Hyungwon looks around for a food-and-drinks stall nearby. "Come on. Let's get some water." 

  
  
  


"So what did we come here for again?"

In front of them stood the infamous fairy-tale like castle in the center of the park, bathed in the glow of a light show dancing across it while a festive orchestra blasts from the speakers surrounding the area. Visitors of all ages flit to its courtyard and form a large semi-circle, half wondering what was about to happen, the other half anticipating in excitement. Near the edges of the semi-circle was Kihyun and Hyungwon, hands linked by their index fingers as they wait for a performance, whatever it may be, along with the audience. 

Phone camera out and ready to record, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, Kihyun answers, "For this. The night show."

Hyungwon releases their hands and crosses his arms. The exhaustion of their past hours spent here has seeped into his bones, translating into impatience at having to wait for something else. Rather than being thrilled by the lights and music and buzz of the crowd, he's more annoyed that there's another attraction or event he has yet to see before they can go home. "And what's it about?" Not so discreet beneath his words was the meaning, _is it worth staying late for?_

"You'll see."

At that moment, a trumpet fanfare cuts the orchestral music short, causing the crowd to flinch in surprise. The large castle gate ahead of them falls open with a dramatic clang, revealing a parade of fictional characters and a marching band, dressed in red-and-white uniform, behind it. When the parade moves forward and leaves the gate, led by a princess in a flowy, majestic ballgown and a prince in an equally-majestic suit, the marching band begins to perform and the crowd cheers.

Squinting at the array of actors some distance away from them, Hyungwon asks, "Who are they? Are they famous characters?" 

Kihyun shrugs. "No idea. They're cute though." 

A mayor in a blue suit with a pot belly, donning a gray handlebar mustache and a gold monocle on his red-cheeked face, passes them right then, waving a jolly hand in their direction. Kihyun grins and waves back. 

"I guess they're cute," Hyungwon admits begrudgingly, watching the mayor go by. "But is that it?"

"Be patient, Won." He receives a thump on the arm. "The show just started after all."

Contrary to the numbers that left the castle, the parade of characters and marching band seemed endless as they continue to manifest behind the gate one after another and snake along the courtyard. Little kids, entranced by their presence, step out of the audience to trail behind them but are held back by their parents. The band members lining the sides of the parade throw out paper confetti and flower petals, adding to the festive atmosphere in the courtyard, while the characters swirl and dance in time to the music rising to its climax, dragging out a visitor or two to join their dance at random. 

His hands up in the air as he records every second of it, Kihyun lets out a low, awed whistle and remarks, "No wonder everyone recommends staying for this. It's impressive." 

Excited screams arise when a group of elephants stride out from the castle, guarded by men in red-and-black spiked armor on the left and right, their spears forming a protective barrier around the animals. Perched on the elephant backs were men and women dressed in silky robes of deep, rich colours, their long hair flowing against their faces. At the cue of a shout drowned by the music and everyone's cheers, each couple begin a graceful, entrancing dance, their rhythm and movements untouched by the upbeat atmosphere. Hyungwon's eyebrows shoot up in amusement. 

"That's...cool." 

And then a blast in the night air shakes everyone's focus. By the time they look up to the source of the boom, red and white traces in the sky disappeared as fast as it had come, but another round of fireworks explode before long. 

Kihyun gasps. "Oh! It's on!" 

"Is this the fireworks display?" questions his boyfriend, interest fully hooked now. It has _definitely_ been far too long since he'd last witnessed one face to face: being the homebody that he is, Hyungwon couldn't care less about lights in an array of hues and a thunderous boom exploding in the sky on most days they were aired, tired by their constant presence at every celebration he went to and 'outgrowing' them at a very young age. The roar of their explosions are normally muffled by pillows and blankets when he's back at home, its hues going unnoticed by his eyes. Nothing is different nor special about this display compared to the ones he'd seen before, but the music reverberating through the ground, an electrifying wonder rushing through the crowd, and the tingle of Kihyun's fingertips touching his adds to the magic of it all.

Before his boyfriend could reply, a chorus of gasps and more cheers springs up from the audience. Between the short dialogue they shared, a group of ballerinas had joined the figures in the courtyard out of nowhere, linking hands with the costumed actors from before, leaping and twirling in their space. Enjoying the show more than he thought he would, Kihyun bursts into giggles, the phone camera in his hand even shakier than before. 

"Won, you should join them," he comments, voice almost-but-not-quite inaudible through the booms and the roars and the music. 

Hyungwon frowns a little, tilts his head to the side. "Huh? Why would I?" 

"You should run through one of your hip-hop choreos with them." 

He pulls a face. "What? No. You can't dance hip-hop to...whatever music this is. And anyway, even if I do, they're all gonna look bad standing next to me." 

"Pft. Ever the confident king, I see." The elder bounces on his knees in time to the upbeat rhythm, watches the performance through his phone screen, then nudges Hyungwon on the side when an idea comes to mind. "If you don't want to join them, then I will. Hold this for me." 

"Don't you _dare_ ," Hyungwon answers, yanking Kihyun by the arm until he almost topples backwards. Kihyun doubles over in laughter, his voice caught loud and clear in the video, his camera shaking and panning to their shoes. "You're going to embarrass everyone here and then I won't be able associate with you anymore." 

"That's harsh. I'm not that bad at dancing."

"But you're not good enough to dance in public." 

Kihyun sticks a tongue out, a snarky reply ready on the tip of his tongue, but then another round of fireworks go off in the sky amidst the din of everything else. Hyungwon shouts, letting go of his boyfriend's arm in surprise and stumbling a step back. Though Kihyun shifts his camera to the colours exploding in the air, he can't help but laugh more at his boyfriend's reaction. 

"You're so dramatic, Won," he comments.

Embarrassed at his dramatic response, Hyungwon follows in his laughter, too.

  
  
  


_[ Picture: a blurry shot of grainy, desaturated Polaroids lying atop a red-and-white striped blanket. Hyungwon and Kihyun stand at the center of them both, arms over each other's shoulders in the top Polaroid, and heads colliding against each other in the bottom one. Scribbled in a thick, black marker at the bottom of them both are the numbers_ 190105. _]_

 

 **chaebuking:** _i'd say happy new year but you already took the 'happy' away @yykh_93_

  
  
  


For as long as they've known each other, not once have they celebrated New Year as it should be according to most: parties lasting through the night amidst booming bass and writhing bodies; enjoying fine cocktails and fancy dinners only available at this time of the year; or staying up with loved ones as they flick through the memories they've collected and documented over the past twelve months. To them, the New Year is what it is: the first day, January first, of a new year, often spent catching up on sleep or lazing in their homes in the name of 'a good start to the year.'

This time around, Kihyun says otherwise. 

A fresh thrill of excitement runs through his body as he saunters down the aisles of the thrift shop, inspecting the occasional quaint ornament or a quirky home decoration, gasping at the cheap prices written on placards and glancing back to his boyfriend. He hasn't gone shopping for seasonal decorations since he began living alone and decided that celebrations were a thing of his past, scoffing at decor pieces here and there whenever possible. Now, with his boyfriend in tow, he admires and coos at each of them instead to make up for lost time for, as he dubbed himself earlier, "channelling his inner Pinterest mom."

Hyungwon is less than pleased at this sudden change of heart. A pout dons on his lower lip as he trudges on unwilling feet behind the elder, letting his arm be pulled through the shop aisles without so much a glance at the items displayed on both sides. For the nth time since they've left Kihyun's apartment together that afternoon, he complains, "What are we looking for, anyway? None of them seem interesting." 

"That's because you have zero taste in aesthetics," came the simple reply. 

"We've walked through this part three times already." Wriggling his wrist in a silent plea to let go, Hyungwon tries not to sigh when the elder picks up another item that he somehow missed the previous times they've went past it. "If you're not gonna buy anything, can we please move on?" 

"What're you in a rush for?" Kihyun returns the chunky cuff bracelet back on the table. "It's not like we have anything better to do, and some of the things here are pretty cool." 

"Yeah, like that creepy owl figure over there?" His boyfriend glances at the wall shelf housing said figure opposite them, its round, ceramic eyes staring back at him in an intense gaze and its mini beak forever open in a silent hoot. Something about its is reminiscent of ghostly figures, but he tries not to ponder too much on it. "I'm not sure your definition of _cool_ matches mine." 

"Stop complaining, Won. Let me do something different for this year's celebration instead of moping around in my plain, old apartment like a middle-aged bachelor. Besides, we haven't gone on a proper date in ages so you might as well enjoy it." 

Hyungwon's pout juts out farther. The date bit was a fair point; none of them could save a day to go out together when their work schedules swamp their weeks and their energy is drained by the evening, limiting them from much activities and places they could go on a date for, so he concedes. "Okay, okay. I'll shut up and make the most of out of it...but make it up to me later on. It's not a proper date if only one of us is having fun." 

At that, a lighthearted snicker comes out from Kihyun. "You're such a whiny baby sometimes." He leans up and pecks his boyfriend on the corner of his mouth, then pulls him away into another aisle of the store. 

  
  
  


That night sees the couple lugging three paper bags from a number of shops— a thrift shop, a dollar store, and a secondhand goods store— from the day's shopping trip back to Kihyun's apartment. Outside, light snowflakes fall from the sky and melts on warm surfaces, disappearing in an instant, and the temperatures drop at least five degrees lower than it had been in the day. Hyungwon sighs in relief when they make it to the entrance of his boyfriend's unit, shaking off the cold that had long seeped into his body over the course of the day, shrugging off his thick coat and unwrapping his scarf from his neck. Beside him, Kihyun bustles around with their new goods on the dining table, arranging the bags and sorting out tree ornaments from wall and shelf decorations, cooing at his buys once in a while. 

The younger plops on a chair and stares at the adjoining pantry. "Do you have any hot choc here?" 

"Yeah. They're in the cupboard on the right." 

"And milk?"

"In the fridge." 

"Cool." Stretching his legs out as far as he can beneath the table, Hyungwon rests his head on the back of his chair and releases a tired groan. "My arms hurt and I'm really sleepy. I feel like I can drop dead any time."

"Then make yourself some chocolate milk?"

"But I'm tired. Give me five minutes." Out of the corner of his eye, he watches his boyfriend painstakingly sort out the items they've bought into categories, all separated and ordered on the table. "Why are you doing that?" 

A hum. "For fun, I guess. It'll be easier for me to choose from when I decorate." 

"Jeez, you're such an old man." Hyungwon closes his eyes for a minute, body going slack against the wooden chair, collecting energy to go to the pantry a mere two meters away. 

Kihyun lifts his gaze for a second. "Says the one complaining about exhaustion all the time."

"I can't help it! I'm fragile and need a lot of rest." Pulling his legs up from underneath the table, his boyfriend stands and heads to the pantry on slow, lazy footsteps, opening said cupboard to search for the chocolate drink packets. "Do you want hot choc, too?" 

"Yes please. Double the milk, if you can." 

"That's a lot of milk," he comments, rifling through the contents of the cupboard to produce the packets. 

"I'll need it if I want to finish decorating by tonight." 

Hyungwon hums, taking two mugs from the rack and placing them on the counter. "Sure thing. Good luck with that— wait, you're gonna start decorating _now_?" 

"Yeah." Unabashed and unapologetic, Kihyun pauses organising his items to ask, "Wanna help?" 

The answer comes in the form of a gaping mouth.   
  
  


 

"Why are you taking this so seriously?" 

At last, a modest gold star is balanced on the top of a mini Christmas tree amidst an array of eccentric ornaments: a jolly knitted Santa Claus drooping low from one of its branches, red, blue and green baubles hung in irregular intervals on the tree, as well as pink and yellow strings, in lieu of tinsels, looped around its diameter. Kihyun steps back from it to admire his work, the same thrill that ran through him as he went shopping earlier now coursing through his body yet again. Who knew that home decor, no matter how modest and out-of-taste, could bring such simple pleasures to him?

"It looks good, doesn't it?" Dismissing Hyungwon's question at all, he glances over his shoulder and beams at his boyfriend, his whisker dimples appearing in his joy. "The apartment looks so much better than before." 

"And more cluttered," the younger points out, standing a two paces away from Kihyun. "Christmas only lasts for a day. You're going to have a hell of a time taking it down after that." 

"Not if I have you to help me around." Brushing his hands against his pants, Kihyun maneuvers Hyungwon around his living room and back to the dining table where a length of fairy lights remained, waiting to be hung. "Come on. Let's get this baby hoisted up."

"Don't talk like that," his boyfriend protests, reaching out for one end of the lights, then trailing after the elder around the apartment. "Where do you wanna put this?" 

Kihyun points to the wall facing his humble television set, where the mini Christmas tree stood in one corner and red-cheeked elf figurines sat hunched on the shelves, guarding the rows of books behind them and ready to welcome Christmas day. "I wanna drape it over the shelves," he tells Hyungwon, pointing at them, "but the end has to reach there." He points at an electric socket hidden at the bottom. "The length of the lights is a little shorter than usual, so I'm not sure how to go about it." 

"Probably means they can only go from here." Approaching the middle shelf out of three, Hyungwon drapes one end of the lights over its edges and carries the rest to the final shelf, making sure it won't drop before its plug could reach the socket at the bottom. He tugs the lights a little hard, however, and one of the figurines fall onto his back. 

His boyfriend leaps forward. "Ah, be careful Won! Don't want these guys to break." Kihyun removes the ceramic elf from Hyungwon's back and returns it to its shelf. "They may be cheap, but that doesn't mean they're easy to replace." 

"Yeah, because they're someone's old, personal decorations passed down through generations of family that ended up being in the thrift store."

"Why are you such a killjoy?" For the second time that night, Kihyun crosses his arms and juts his lip into an uncharacteristic, childish pout. "So what if it's old and personal? It's cute and cheap and that's what matters." 

"I didn't say it was a bad thing," Hyungwon replies in defense. He retreats a step back once the fairy lights were arranged. "There. Do you like it?" 

The elder hums. "That'll do."

"Cool. Great." Making his away around the living room, Hyungwon flops on his boyfriend's worn out couch and stretches his long limbs, intent on not moving anymore. "We're done." 

"No we're not. There's still the bedroom to go—"

"Good luck with it." He sends the elder a mischievous wink, adamant about not helping out. Kihyun rolls his eyes in reply but lets it go; after all, Hyungwon had helped with the rest of the house already despite constant protests against it, and it was thanks to him that half the workload was done.

"Fine then. Scoot over." Kihyun bends down to retrieve his mug of hot chocolate, rearranges Hyungwon's legs so they're on top of one another, then seats himself in the small space left on the couch. "I'll just finish it tomorrow." 

Silence replaces the hustle and bustle of the entire evening in the apartment, only stopped in intervals of Kihyun sipping his drink and letting its warmth course through his chilled body. Outside, a neighboring apartment blasts jolly Christmas tunes from their balcony which echoes throughout the neighborhood, while a group of students passing by laugh their hearts out into the cold night sky. The clouds in the blue-black darkness above are unmoving against the silver-white moon and a speckle of stars, while a light snowfall begins to muffle the outdoor world. 

Hyungwon tucks his chin to look at his boyfriend. "So what are you going to do about all of this?"

"Hm?"

"Are you going to throw a party here or something? We decorated it so well."

His reply comes in the form of a shrug. "Don't know yet," answers Kihyun, eyes flitting towards the row of socks hung by the corner of his television set. "Probably not."

"Then what did we do all of that for?"

"For myself? Nothing's wrong with a little decoration once in a while."

Hyungwon smirks, half-amused by that. "This is the same man who claimed that house decor is a _capitalist crime_ for wasting money and space. So this is what they call character growth." 

Not wanting to admit that his boyfriend was right, Kihyun scoffs. 

  
  


 

Christmas and New Year festivities pass by in a blur. Their families shower them with love, thoughtful gifts and greetings when they visit together, Kihyun's parents encouraging them to live together in a nearby neighborhood ("It cuts the living costs down," his dad added, "and we can visit you anytime!") while Hyungwon's parents suggest them countries to travel to during the holidays. Both visits brought them a warmth in their chest, filled stomachs, a string of family pictures and many goodie bags back to Seoul. One or two dinner parties with both personal and work friends had shut down any loneliness the two felt over their break, bridging the distance between their social circles, and the city's festive air lingered by the time they returned to their individual homes. 

However, they weren't quite done yet. 

Tonight, Hyungwon falls down onto Kihyun's couch without so much a greeting towards his boyfriend, face smacking against the soft cushions and a muffled groan, one that resonates with his boyfriend, leaves his body. Their break was due to be over in four days' time and nothing could motivate him to go back to work, unwilling to let go of his leisure time and the blessing of extra sleep on their days off. 

Not even sparing a glance towards the younger, Kihyun sighs in agreement and leans against the thick back of his armchair. "I know." 

"Ugh." Hyungwon flips over onto his back, his freshly-dyed blonde hair flopping against his forehead, thick lips jutting into a pout. "Don't wanna go." 

"Me neither." 

"Don't want this to end." 

"Same." 

"I still wanna laze around." 

Images of the numbers and graphs that Kihyun has to analyse at work, dealing with unpleasant coworkers and presenting in front of snotty, stubborn higher-ups caused an unpleasant shiver to run down his spine. And then an image of his upcoming schedules surface in his mind: another meeting, a presentation, two deadlines to meet— his mood plummets instantly, but a persistent string of work ethic remains behind. "Me too...but I can't. I have too many things to do for me to give up." 

"And you think I don't?" Bending his neck over to peek at his boyfriend, Hyungwon raises his eyebrows. 

"From the way you're acting now, no." 

"Ugh." He pulls a pillow from behind his head and lets it rest on his torso. "It's not like we celebrate it either way, but I don't want the festive season to be over so soon." 

"Well, it sure isn't over yet in my house. Our break ends when we say so." Kihyun observes all the Christmas and New Year decorations— he'd bought a handful of New Year Party balloons and cards, sticking them to the living room walls— and pauses to think. "Maybe we could put them to good use." 

"Put what?" 

"The decor." Jutting his chin out to their direction, he adds, "We could throw a mini party of our own." 

"A party? Isn't it a little too late by now?"  

Kihyun raises a brow. "Neither of us want the holiday season to end, right? So let's stretch it a little further. Let's throw a party. I mean, we've already decked out my entire apartment, so we might as well make use of it." 

"Hm." The younger considers for a moment. "Fair enough. But how are we going to set it up and invite people on time? Everyone's going back to work or school again. Who knows how many of them will turn up?" 

"I didn't say we were inviting anyone else." 

"Huh?" 

A finger jabs the air between them. "You and me," declares Kihyun, an excited shine glinting in his eyes. "Our own personal party." 

Blink blink. Then, "Oh." 

"We don't need to do anything special. We can order pizza, fried chicken, and get some drinks. Soju for you and I both. Get the Polaroid out, take some self-timer pictures, play some music and dance the night away. How about that?" 

Hyungwon scrunches his nose. "Well..." 

"A party between you and me," his boyfriend repeats. At this point, there was no way he could refuse when Kihyun's eyes grew to round saucer plates and the raise of his eyebrows were too convinced to accept anything less. So Hyungwon shrugs, not giving much consideration to the plan— after all, if it meant he could postpone thinking about work for one more day, he'd do it. 

"Okay then. When do you want to do it?" 

  
  
  


Two evenings later sees the boyfriends carrying a stack of pizza boxes, three soju bottles, an array of canned drinks, Hyungwon's self-timer Polaroid camera from his high school days and his mini speakers into Kihyun's apartment, setting all the items down on the dining table. The speakers are connected to Kihyun's phone at once, trinkling chill R&B tunes all over the unit, while the Polaroid is placed on one of the shelved in the television set in lieu of having a proper stand. Chicken, bacon, tomato, and cheese smells waft out from the boxes as Hyungwon rips a slice out from the pizza, observes his boyfriend body roll in time to the rhythm of the music. He grins.  

"Your dancing is greasier than this pizza," he comments. Kihyun side-eyes him.

"And?"

A shrug. A wave of the pizza in hand. "Just saying."

"Why don't _you_ show me how to dance, then, oh professional dancer?"

Hyungwon smirks, one eyelid dipping in a seductive wink. "After this slice." 

An hour or two passes by like that: alternating between grooving to Kihyun's playlists, munching away on their pizza, and drinking soda or soju in irregular intervals. It's more intimate this way, they think, finding themselves unwinding to the max when it's just the two of them in this so-called party. Kihyun lets himself be maneuvered by his boyfriend, swaying against each other in a half-drunk state, elbows and hands getting into each other's way as they feel the beat of the music even if their bodies don't express it well. The night dips into its lower temperatures. Their neighborhood succumbs to a sleepy silence. And, in the confines of the apartment, Christmas is not over yet.

It isn't until Hyungwon releases his grip on the elder's waist and falls back against the couch, pillows flying off at the movement, did they break out of their dancing trance. Bored with the R&B genre, Kihyun waltzes to his phone lying on the television set and changes it to a proper Christmas playlist, tinkling bells and happy fanfares and laughter now dominating the living room. He flops on the couch beside the younger, a light sheen of sweat covering part of his forehead as he looks at his boyfriend. 

"That was fun." 

Hyungwon tilts his head. "Was it?" 

"I haven't danced that much in a while." 

"Huh." Their hands seek each other in the distance separating them, fingers intertwining in a casual grip. "Me neither, actually," Hyungwon confesses. "It was fun." 

"I wish we did this sooner." Shifting sideways until they're side by side, Kihyun leans into the crook of the younger's neck, his mint-scented shampoo wafting towards Hyungwon's face. "But whatever. We did it, and better late than never." 

"Yup." Hyungwon buries his nose into the crown of his boyfriend's head. "I wanna take some Polaroids." 

"After this, yeah? I'm still kinda tired." 

"I know. Me too." He gazes at a scatter of Polaroids taped up on one side of the television set across them, ranging from Kihyun's high school days to his singing competitions in university to their coworker's New Year's party last week, all of them featuring Kihyun in a variety of smiles, often victorious or simply jovial. Pointing up to that wall, Hyungwon says, "I wanna add to the collection over there." 

"Oh, we will." 

  
  
  


_ [ First slide: a picture of a rich, vivid sunset taken from a balcony of a hotel room, drowning in hues of blue, pink, orange-red and golden-yellow, the clouds above the horizon reflecting the mishmash of colours at their bottom surfaces. The silhouette of tree branches border the frame of the photo and a dark shadow of the balcony railing peeps right above the bottom edge. Second slide: a near-silhouette of Kihyun sitting on rocks upon a shore, the outline of his hair splaying across his head like a halo against a sunrise, splashes of golden-orange-pink-blue spread across the sky behind him like an abstract painting. ] _

 

 **yykh_93:** _when he asks 'where's the view' but you ARE the view smh_

  
  
  


The two boyfriends huff as they drag their mini luggages uphill from the parking lot to the resort entrance, its open-air lobby spacious and wide, the view of the blue sea beyond that inviting to the eye. A refreshing seasalt scent tickles their nostrils, awakens their senses after being cooped up in the city for two years nonstop, and the distant sound of waves crashing against roccks sends excited jitters down their knees. Alas, their long-awaited beach getaway has dawned on them and both Kihyun and Hyungwon anticipate the four-day weekend ahead. 

Once they've signed in and received their room keys, Kihyun whirls around to face his boyfriend while they cross the open corridor with a seaside view— it seems like most sections of the resort, save for the actual rooms themselves, are open to the outdoors— and gushes, "Doesn't this look great?" 

"Watch where you're going." Leading the elder by the small of his back, Hyungwon smiles his way and answers, "But yeah, it does. It's so much better than looking at skyscrapers and mountains of houses everyday."

"Right!" They stop at a far side of the corridor, in front of a veranda overlooking the large boulders gathered at the shore, the sound of waves crashing against them loud and clear. An excited jitter runs through Kihyun's body as he admires the view, inhaling as much of the sea as he can, while Hyungwon closes his eyes to enjoy the breeze caressing his cheeks. "Thank God we booked it while it still had a discount. I wouldn't want to spend another weekend cooped up at home." 

"Ugh, yeah. Can't spend another weekend staring at sad, grey buildings all day long. Even an indoors person like me needs some nature once in a while," the younger declares, placing his hands on his hips. "I'd forgotten how great the sea can be."

"Not me," Kihyun singsongs. "I've been wanting to come here since last July."

"I know." Of course Hyungwon knows. He was the one person to deal with his boyfriend's constant whining throughout that summer, after all. "How can I forget when that was all you talked about for three momths straight?"

"Hehe. Of course you'd remember." The elder stares at a group of people wading through the waves and into shallow waters, their bodies swallowed by the blueness of the sea. "Nothing beats swimming and eating seafood by the sea, and we're finally here after ten months."

Hyungwon freezes then. "We didn't forget our swimsuits at home, did we?" 

"No Won, I checked at least three times for both of our bags. Don't worry about it." Satisfied with the preview of the scenery lying before them, Kihyun takes Hyungwon's wrist into a light grip and leads him away from the veranda. "Come on, let's get into our room so we can rest for a bit. I'm tired." 

"Then we'll go to the beach, right?"

"Of course! We didn't drive all the way here for nothing." 

Their voices in the corridor and the rolling of the wheels on their luggages become muffled as they close the door to their room. 

  
  
  


The nighttime view of the beach doesn't beat its daytime view, but it's still easy to be awed by the sheer mass of people thriving by the shore, an ethereal glow from the brilliant array of lights casted on faces and boulders and the sea that licks the sand, everyone's senses drowning in delicious seafood dishes being served at the open restaurants bordering the shore. Salty scents and winds are amplified as the boyfriends stroll along the area, interlocked hands swinging to the rhythm of their footsteps while they marvel at all the things laid before their eyes. 

"I really wanna take a picture right now," Kihyun declares, glancing at the camera dangling by its strap on his neck, "but it's too dark to make out anything."

His boyfriend shrugs, wiggling his fingers in their grip, and says, "You can do it tomorrow." 

"But can I wait until then? Probably not." Leading them to a trinkets stall, its seashell necklaces and quirky bracelets displayed under the direct shine of a streetlight, Kihyun maneuvers Hyungwon by its side— away from the shopkeeper's eyes, just in case— and tells him to pose. Hyungwon sticks two fingers up beside his face. 

_ Snap. _

He gathers next to the elder at once, crowds their heads together to peer at the camera screen. "Do I look good?" 

"Hm. Debatable." Though he was against a light source, parts of Hyungwon's face shone through in the dim picture and complemented against the merry background, his squishy cheeks and the edges of his hair highlighted by the backlight. Kihyun bursts into a smile, softened by the boyfriend quality of his shot. "Okay, yeah, you do." 

"Cool." Hyungwon slides his hands into his pockets. "So are you going to take pictures now?" 

"Relax, I promise I won't turn it into a photoshoot." Brushing shoulders against each other, the elder of the two shifts to the edges of the boardwalk and cradles his camera against his chest, ensuring that his precious gadget wouldn't be knocked by people's elbows. "Could you pose a few more times, though? The vibes are pretty good here." 

Having memorised Kihyun's quirks on the back of his hand, his boyfriend rolls his eyes. " _Won't turn it into a photoshoot_ my ass," mumbles Hyungwon, obeying his boyfriend's orders regardless. He tilts his jaw away from the direction of the camera, schooling his face into a princely expression trained by his modeling days, attracting a number of eyes as they pass by him, and waits for the clicks to end. 

Kihyun tuts in disapproval. "Hey. You didn't walk the runway for nothing." Once his photos are taken, he removes the camera from his face and squints at the screen again. "Ah, look at all these great pictures. Makes fantastic memories. You never disappoint, don't you, my dear model boyfriend." 

"You mean ex." 

That raises a startled glance from him.

Then Hyungwon continues, not noticing the apparent shock, "Ex-model boyfriend." 

"Oh my gosh." A dramatic, relieved sigh. "I thought you were ending things for a second."

"For forcing me to be in your pictures?" Tapping a dainty finger to his chin, Hyungwon pretends to entertain the thought and scrunches his nose in a playful manner. "I'd consider, but you'll have to try harder than that." 

Kihyun sends him a smile. Then he raises his camera to his eyes, captures his boyfriend's candid grin against the swarm of beachgoers in the background, and clicks. He's about to take yet another photo when Hyungwon abruptly looks away, sights attracted to a food stand nearby, his nose twitching at the oily scent wafting from it. 

"Is that fried seafood?" 

Following the younger's gaze, Kihyun moves his camera against his chest once more and lets out a gasp. "Oh! It is. And it smells super good." He turns to his boyfriend, raises an eyebrow. "Care for an extra round of dinner?"    
  
  


 

The splash of salty seawater barging into Hyungwon's mouth awakens him the next morning. 

Kihyun laughs at him two feet away, his hand holding a mini pail frozen midair, eyes scrunched in childlike amusement as he watches the younger splutter and gag. His voice is almost swallowed by the sounds of waves crashing against the sea boulders as he says, "Sorry, was that too much?" 

"What was that for?" Clearing saltwater from his throat and hoping none of them slides down the wrong tube, Hyungwon frowns up at his boyfriend. "That hurt— oh gosh, I think some of the water went into my eyes." 

At once, Kihyun tosses the mini pail into the sand and rushes over to his boyfriend, laughter replaced by apologies and gentle hands caressing his face. "Oh my god, it went in? I'm so sorry Won, I thought it wasn't going to go that far."

A disgruntled gaze meets his eyes. "You're too much." 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Let's wash it off your face." Fingers circling around a thin wrist, Kihyun grabs theor waterproof fanny pack, guides his boyfriend towards a row of water taps behind a snack shack, then twists the tap on so clean water rushes out. He cups a palm beneath the stream and rinses Hyungwon's face with it, just enough until the younger could open his eyes. "There. All better?" 

Hyungwon hums, more than happy with being taken care of despite it being Kihyun's fault. "Yeah. I'm all fine now. Thanks." 

"Fine enough to get into the water with me?" 

"No." Even so, he lets himself be pulled towards the blue water, its edges tinged with white foam as they rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall against the sand. At this hour of the day when the sky was still blue and the sun's rays barely touched the sky, not many people were on the beach, leaving most of the area empty, and a chilly breeze winds through the spaces between them, its touch freezing to their bodies. Hyungwon braces himself for more cold splashes of water against his bare skin, for Kihyun to push him straight to the waves, but is instead left to the tendrils of the wind when he's steered to a cave beneath a cliff, its entrance hidden by a hill of large, jagged boulders jutting out from the ground. Here,the only people besides them were a trio of friends in their high school to university years, frolicking on the far side of the cafe where green vines and barnacles creep over the rocks. Their voices ring out and bounce against the surfaces of the shore in the distance, yet another melody line in the orchestra of the beach's waves crashing and seagulls flapping their wings above.

Then a digital camera is shoved into Hyungwon's face, stealing his attention from the student trio. Kihyun, hands on the hem of his baggy shorts and standing to the aide of the jagged boulders, stares down at him with an expectant grin. 

"Won, take pictures of me, please?" His grin may be a little too bright against the dim morning sky— heck, the sun still hasn't risen above the horizon line— and Hyungwon has to squint back.

"Take pictures of you?" 

"Yeah." Not waiting for a proper response, Kihyun points to a group of rocks gathered a ways away by the waves, water eroding the sand and dragging its grains away. "I wanna take one there. Follow me?" 

"Okay." Trailing after his boyfriend yet again, Hyungwon carries the camera with careful hands (he's always scared of touching any of Kihyun's camera, to be honest; he never knows what's right and wrong to do with it) and takes position on the sand, stopping some feet away when Kihyun stops. He watches the elder sit down on the wet surface of the rocks, yelp and jump up in surprise, before pouting at him. Hyungwon raises an eyebrow. 

"What?" 

Kihyun whines, "The water's so cold." He stares at the rocks again, not sure if he should pose as he thought he would, but then shrugs off his doubt. When else will he get an aesthetic beach photo if not now? Gritting his teeth against the chilly waters and the freezing wind, he sits down on the rocks and scrunches his eyes. "Oh gosh, it's so cold." 

That breaks an amused smile on his boyfriend's face. Lifting the camera to his eyes and steadying it there, Hyungwon says, "There there. I'll take a picture quick, okay? Hurry and pose so you won't feel cold anymore." 

"Okay. Make me look good, alright?" 

"I will, I will. Can't let my photography lessons with Mr Yoo Kihyun go to waste."  

The elder grins in reply. Turning to the direction of the sea, Kihyun ruffles a hand through his hair and loses his pitiful expression for a cold, moody one, his eyebrows settling into its natural curve and the corners of his lips drooping into a small _o_ _._ From the spot he's taken behind him, Hyungwon shuffles around on the sand for a few moments until the light hits his boyfriend in all the right directions, the sunrise glow highlighting one side of his face while it leaves the others in the shadow. Then he presses long on the shutter button and takes a series of pictures. 

Once a minute passes by, Kihyun breaks his pose and peers over his shoulder. "Are you done?" 

"Hold on. I'm just taking as many pictures as I can." As he does so, Hyungwon duck-walks on the sand again and takes another series of pictures until he's satisfied, the constant whirr of shutter clicks stopping abruptly. Removing the camera from his fave, he squints at the screen for a few seconds and says, "Yeah, I think I'm done now." 

"How generous of you to take more than one," remarks Kihyun as he slides off the rocks, hands reaching out for his camera. "You normally won't retake one picture if it's blurry and it's the only picture I have." 

"I don't know. Felt like doing some charity work today." Hyungwon suppresses a smirk, then dodges a hand swatting at his face. Beneath his breath he mumbles, "Also, you looked really good there."

"Did I?" This time, it's Kihyun's turn to squint at the camera, fingers damp with seawater as he plays through all the shots the younger took. Sure enough, the daylight (or lack thereof) in his photos took to an otherworldly glow against his silhouette, emphasizing his sharp profile and pout of his lips. He breaks into a smile. "Oh, you're right. I did look good." 

"You still do." A thin arm wraps around his exposed waist— uncharacteristic of Hyungwon, who would only go so far with hand-holding in public on good days— and Kihyun is tugged against his boyfriend's torso. "So what do you think? Did I do well?" 

Kihyun lets out a satisfied hum. "Yup. Good job." Leaning up on his tiptoes, he presses a chaste kiss on the younger's cheek, eliciting an embarrassed groan from him. "Do you want your pictures to be taken, too?" 

"Nah, I'm fine. I just wanna go indoors somewhere." A new and stronger gust of wind blows past them right then. Hyungwon brings himself closer to the elder, curls in on himself to push the cold away. "Come on. It's really chilly. Let's go inside a building or something." 

"Okay." Leaning just a little on his side, Kihyun follows his boyfriend's footsteps down the beach.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> hmu on [twt](http://twitter.com/seohngjin) or [tumblr](http://cngkyns.tumblr.com)!


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